By Chinwe Imo-Eze Onwosi
The National Population Commission (NPC) has urged the Publicity Committee for the 2023 Population and Housing Census to ensure intensive advocacy, publicity of the exercise and public enlightenment of the citizens is achieved.
The NPC Federal Commissioner in Ebonyi State, Darlington Okereke, gave this charge while declaring open a one-day training for members of the committee in Abakaliki on Thursday.
Okereke, tasked members of the committee to ensure that the census exercise was well publicised stating that the workshop was “critical”, as sustained publicity and enlightenment were imperative for the success of the exercise.
According to him “The convening of this workshop for the state Census Publicity Committee is critical and it underscores the determination and commitment of the commission to a successful exercise by updating the committee on processes and methodology of the 2023 Population and Housing Census.
“The vision of the commission for the 2023 census is to produce an inclusive and user-friendly data that will be used by all segments of the society for development planning and critical program interventions.
“The aspiration is to ensure that results of the census is acceptable to Nigerians and the quality of data generated meets international best standards,” Okereke said.
He called for intensive advocacy, publicity and public enlightenment of the citizens.
“The advocacy becomes more critical in view of the fact that the census is taking place immediately after the general elections,’’ he said.
Also, the state Director of the Commission, Mrs Julia Manyike, said the one-day training was on the processes and methodology of the 2023 Census.
“The workshop intends to increase the knowledge base of members of the committee to appropriately disseminate information and educate the public on the exercise,” Manyike said.
The Chairman of the committee, Barr. Uchenna Orji who is also the Commissioner for Information in the state commended the commission for its efforts to ensure a successful census.
Orji, promised that the committee would support the processes, especially in the area of information dissemination across the 13 Local Government Areas of Ebonyi.
“The committee is going to develop a template for better coordination and hopefully, the commission will have the best and acceptable exercise not only in Ebonyi but country at large,” he said.
The three papers presented at the event included Data Quality Management; Enumeration Area Demarcation and Digital Mapping for 2023 Census and Processes and Methodology for the exercise
